The boy who runs
As quickly as he could Gabriel darted to the right making the beast miss his target. He started to run before the beast could get up.
No human was in sight, Gabriel had to save his own life all by himself.
He had run like he never did before. Fortunately he was a marathon runner thanks to his friend Carlo, but the beast was faster and he was quickly gaining ground.
Fortunately there were a lot of buildings with a lot of bottlenecks and recesses.
As soon as possible Gabriel entered inside a bottleneck. He thought it was over but the beast had the agility of feline.
Despite it was stuck the beast was slowly passing through the bottleneck.
Without losing any time Gabriel kept running. He started to felling tired. He passed through other bottlenecks and arches but the beast was always behind him.
Then he saw a very tight bottleneck. Thankfully he was agile enough to pass through while the beast couldn't.
This time the beast wasn't able to follow him. He got stuck and couldn't move at all. He tried to grab Gabriel with his big clawed paw but he scratched him.
"Ouch!" the boy screamed.
Gabriel followed the tight bottleneck till reaching a little square connected with many bottlenecks.
Gabriel saw the beast going away and he finally could catch a breath.
He never ran so much in his entire life. His face couldn't stop sweating.
He gave a look around the square. No one was around except a beggar with a long coat, a long white beard and a black hat sleeping in an alley.
Yeah, sleep. That was a good idea.
Gabriel caught his breath and sat on the floor.
He thought the worst was behind him.
The beast left him alone.
Could he finally go back to his uncle?
How much he ran?
Could he be able to find the way back?
Did Giovanni notice his missing?
Was he looking for him?
He thought about his father.
He had to go back immediately.
He was trying to get up…
He heard a big thud.
The big reddish beast was before him.
He climbed the buildings then he jumped on the square.
This time Gabriel had no energy to run, he was doomed.
The beast grabbed Gabriel and opened his mouth.
He slowly started to put the boy in his big mouth.
Gabriel wasn't even able to cry, he closed his eyes.
It was over.
Here lies Gabriel Pastorelli, eat by a monster.
Bang!
What was that?
The beast suddenly stopped.
Bang bang!
Gabriel opened his eyes.
He could spot a couple of tranquilizer darts on the beast's side.
It fell on the ground and let Gabriel go.
Gabriel noticed the beggar; he was standing still before him armed with a shotgun.
The beast quickly raised. This time he was charging the beggar.
The beggar quickly reloaded his shotgun and shot other tranquilizer darts. The beast fell backwards.
"Gabriel, come with me!" he said giving his hand.
Gabriel felt he could trust him, he saved his life. Moreover he knew his name.
The beggar helped the boy to get up from the floor.
Meanwhile the beast opened his eyes.
Gabriel turned his head and noticed the beast was still moving.
"Come on!" the beggar screamed.
So they ran away while the beast was slowly trying to get up.